Author Archives: chessnutexeter@gmail.com

Starting under lockdown

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My 10 year old daughter is very keen on chess but the only person she ever plays is me, who she always beats because I’m rubbish, and I am unable to offer her any advice on how to improve her play.

My first bit of advice is: see if you can find her some better opposition!  Not easy to play over-the-board at the moment of course — but schools may run clubs soon and there is a lot of chess played online.  You can review the games you have played online and think about what to do better next time.

ChessKid.com is a safe online environment to play in which does not allow player-to-player chat (messages) — just canned messages like ‘Well played’ and ‘Good game’.   It also has instructional videos presented in a very friendly way.

All the youngsters from my club have joined Lichess.org, which is an adult/mixed site.  But the programmers have thought about youngsters’ safety: you can turn chat off, set chat to password-only, or allow chat but have a peek every so often at who is saying what in her messages.

You could also find her a computer opponent — there are free apps, some of which are of Grandmaster strength, but something like ‘Play Magnus’ might appeal.  You get to play a computer imitating the play of the current World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, but can choose from versions of him at different ages, with the hope that most of us can hold him off when he is 5.

I was wondering if you have any coaches who would be willing to spend a little time with her, helping her get an idea of what she should work on if she wants to improve.

At the moment I’m on furlough so I have more time for coaching than I want!  There are several coaches in Devon, myself included, who might be able to help.  If you are happy to think about coaching online — which is how we’ve all had to work this year — you have the cream of national and international chess to choose from.  The English Chess Federation has just this month launched a new list of qualifying coaches, and Lichess has a huge list of titled players who coach.

I’d be happy be to point you to some useful free resources to look at (YouTube is awash with chess) and maybe some books that you could use with her.   If you get a Lichess account beforehand, for yourself or for her, we can play on the same board while we talk.

There’s some basic advice here, some for U9s:
https://devonjuniorchess.co.uk/content/advice

And more here:
https://www.chessinschools.co.uk/chess-at-home

That should keep her amused for a while!

Approaching coaching

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Do you need a chess coach?

I think, if you want to improve, you should be

  1. Playing often, including a good slice of slow-play games
  2. Writing down all your slow-play games (and others if you can) or storing them in a database
  3. Going over your games, (a) by yourself, (b) with another player, and/or (c) with a computer
  4. Checking your opening moves against a book or database – who made the last ‘book’ move?
  5. Doing a bit of study of (a) tactics, (b) openings, and (c) endgames

If you aren’t doing any or all of those things, you won’t improve as fast as you could.  None of that needs a coach, but a coach might be able to give you pointers about your games (#2) or what you might look at to study (#4).  There’s a terrific amount of free instructional material online these days, so be sure you’re making the best use of your time and money before you hire a coach.  Here are some starting places:

https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/getting-started-coaching-stuff
http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/u14-training-day-1st-february-2014

Hiring Dr.Dave

If you want to talk to me about coaching, I usually offer a free first consultation, to decide (a) if we like each other enough to spend more time talking,
(b) if I think I can do you any good, and
(c) if so, how and how often.
I’d like to do the consultation after having looked at your last dozen chess games – not your best dozen, or your last dozen wins, but your last dozen games, preferably with at least 30 minutes each on the clock.

The easiest thing, if you play online, is to point me to your chess profiles, where I can see your games for myself.  Lichess.org I think is one of the best places to play and is entirely free.

You can send games to me as scoresheets, photocopies or scans of scoresheets, transcribed typed moves, read to me over the ‘phone, or best of all as a PGN file.

Portable Game Notation (PGN) is a way of swapping games between computers, and any chess software worthy of the name should be able to read and write PGN files. A PGN file looks like this:

[Event "Game for stakes"]
[Site "London, Simpson's"]
[Date "1879"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Schilling,PDQ"]
[Black "Blackburne,JH"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. Nxf7 Qxg2 
6. Rf1 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Nf3# 0-1

Usually, a programme will give you a board to make the moves and a little form to fill in the game information.  To enter and email chess games in PGN format you can use:

If you play chess online, your server or software should be storing your games somewhere, and you should be able to find the games and send them along.  However, I never find ‘should’ much of a guarantee in life, so best of luck with that.

ALSO:

I am also interested to know about chess books, DVDs and software that you have in the house and also about any chess books that you may have devoured in the past and websites you may have plundered.

I can work face-to-face, over the ‘phone, or over the Internet using something like Skype and/or a chess server like Lichess .  Depending on your telephone contract and Internet speed, either may be the best option for us, but happy to discuss and experiment.

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Do you experience any of these symptoms:

  • dry, stodgy openings?
  • poor tactical vision?
  • feeling weak or dizzy during play?
  • fading in the endgame?
  • difficulty focussing on strategy?

If so, you could be suffering from what we doctors* don’t call hypocoachosis, or lack of coaching.
Luckily, we have an effective treatment. With just a few doses of our coaching, we can have you up and winning again in no time.

“My openings have never felt better!”
“My grip on the game is now strong and sure.”
“I can keep going now right to the end!”
“It’s like a mist has lifted from my eyes… Thank you Dr.Dave!”

Here are some genuinely made-up patient statements:

If you think you could benefit from a course of coaching, get in touch today, and soon you too will be making those winning moves.

* N.B. He’s not even a real doctor.

The win with the IQP

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